No training wheels!

Yep, that's right, folks! These kiddos are training wheel-free!!! Ava had training wheels for roughly 1 month and Noah has NEVER had training wheels.

He's THREE, y'all!

The secret? A balance bike!! The even bigger secret? You don't have to spend $200 on one! My dad took the pedal mechanism off the bike so Noah could learn to balance...just as soon as he got tall enough to reach the ground on the bike! ha!

Moving Saga: The Conclusion

Well, friends! I've gathered a lot of information, shed a few tears over the condition of my furniture, exchanged words with the driver, exchanged eloquent e-mails, detailing what movex owes me, how they breached their contract, and what steps I'd take if they ignored me... Aaaand then I found out a key piece of information: Movex didn't pay the trucking company, the staff had been laid off, and they were closing their doors. Oh. my. Time to let it go. Phew!

Turns out the truck driver removed my furniture and replaced it after a move behind me pulled out their belongings first. Awesome.

So that, my friends, is why if I ever move again (WHEN I move again) I'll be driving my belongings myself.

In case you wondered...

Remember these beauties?

I was SOOO excited to find them, and in such great condition, too! 

I had mom send me a few shots that looked something like this....

And turned them into this....

Added (several!) coats of dark brown paint....

And gave them to her for a very special birthday! 

And now here they are, at the top of her stairs: 

Turns out she'd been wanting to create silhouettes of some kind of the kids, so it worked out to be an even more perfect birthday gift! I love creating for loved ones!!! 

Little hands and dirty faces

There are certain unmistakeable signs of summer: shorts, sunglasses, and berry picking! Today was full of all of these...and certain unmistakeable signs of playing hard!

Autumn in Washington might be 45 or it might be 85. Today we leaned strongly toward the 85 end of the spectrum!

"Nana, could you do us a huge favor and fill this up to [the top] with berries?" - Ava

Boys and girls. 

Anyone else see a future firefighter?

Fuzzy friend! 

Sharing the experience with Ava before we returned him to the bushes. 

An open letter to Eharmony

Dearest Eharmony,

You do so many things right. I appreciate your 29 dimensions of compatibility, your endearing and slightly obnoxious commercials, I've even bought into your "science of love". But dearest, there is one fly in the ointment. If it's not resolved I fear I may have to leave you for the open arms of match.com or plentyoffish...

This is not 8th grade and I'm not the poor, lonely, desperate wallflower anxious to not be picked last for the spring fling. The days of growth spurt potential are far behind, and in fact, what's more present these days are receding hairlines. I'd prefer not to be up close and personal to one on a date. The fact that you want me to play Nicole Kidman or Katie Holmes to your Tom Cruise does not sit well with me.

I'm tall, and I'm confident. I enjoy my height. It makes me look slender when I'm really heavily average, it makes it easy to see to the front of the line in crowds, it looks great in a pair of bootcut jeans... But it doesn't look great matched up with an extremely short male.

At first I thought it was a fluke. I thought you were trying to teach me a lesson, dearest, like the one that I'm apparently destined to date musicians. I can come to terms with these small lessons, given with a bit of sugar. But then I changed my settings. I saw there were tall men all over this great country, though most of them seemed to be located in California, Wyoming, or Montana. I was encouraged by the number of over 6 feet tall matches! Surely they can't all be outside of Washington!

Dearest, you assured me, promised me even, that you'll never match me with someone that doesn't meet my criteria if I push the settings to the maximum. I did and how do you reward me? With a 5'3" male. Seriously? Did you forget that I'm a woman? Did you get confused or are you trying to be ornery?!

Please notice my settings and hold up your end of the promise. I promise not to leave you if you will please just send me matches over 5'11. I'll even concede to a match that's 5'10 once in a while in the spirit of compromise!

Lovingly hoping you'll change,

Katie

The Offer!

I took a huge step towards home ownership tonight!  As little as three weeks ago I thought this was 5-10 years off, easily!  And yet here we are!

It all started when mom and I went to look for condos to rent in the hills of Renton. I popped out to check some fliers posted outside a complex and as I looked at it said "Wow, $65,000. Even I could do that."  And so it began.  A process of ups and downs and deciding against the very condo I just submitted an offer on today.

It turns out the condo is a short sale and the real estate agent I spoke to didn't think too highly of them. I'd all but crossed it off my list when I heard back from the seller saying two very key things: 1. It's bank approved and 2. It can be rented out.  Hm...it's back on the table.

We went to look at it and by the time we were leaving even the realtor was saying he might need to buy into the complex.  (Talk about reassuring!)

We looked at one other condo and upon returning to the first decided unanimously that it was "the one". Now I'm leaving out all the funny side stories like being locked out of both condos at different times, driving to Starbucks and back TRYING to get in, etc. Ohhh boy, it wasn't short on humor! BUT in the end it came down to making a serious offer.

I sat across from Chad tonight and initialed each page as he explained to me the different deadlines, outs, and ins of the offer. When he had handed me the last form he finished with "Well, you just made an offer!" Wow, those words hit me hard! I just made an offer. AN OFFER. To PURCHASE a home. Woooow!

So now the long process of waiting begins!  This process has been covered with prayer from the start and it will continue to be so. I urge you to pray with me that I will be submissive to God's will and continue to feel His hand and His peace at work in my life and those around me!

Oh and if you're looking for the world's most awesome realtor, just let me know and I"ll get you in touch with Chad Beckwith. He rocks!

And now a little about the condo:

It's in Renton, just a three minute drive from my office.  It's got a fireplace with a lovely stone tile surround. It's got the COOLEST exposed beam, vaulted ceiling, and a cute little kitchen with fairly new appliances. It's got TWO bedrooms and 1.75 baths, which means I have a guest room or potential to have a roommate in the future! It's about 920 sf, so it's more than enough space, and it also has a great little deck that looks out over a nice little green space! :) I'll post pictures when/if it becomes more certain to be mine! For now I'm trying to keep praying and knowing that it COULD still fall through... But it might not and then I'll OWN IT! Aaah!

The latest in the continuing saga

"This is the move that will not end, yes it goes on and on my frieeeeend"

Anyone else find themselves humming along to the the tune of the never ending song? No? Just me. Well, that's what it feel like, dear friends. The move that will. not. end.

Latest update: I get an e-mail at 20 to five in the afternoon from Cindy at Movex that simply says the driver reported an overage on my space allowance and to call her immediately.  I immediately called Linda who orchestrated my move and she informed me of the following:

1. There were NO moving blankets/pads (as promised by movex)
2. There was no dolly (as promised by movex)
3. There was ONE tie down strap (Movex promised strapSSS -- as in plural, and they really SHOULD have been long enough to actually TIE DOWN my stuff).
4. There were no sheets of plywood between moves as there was supposed to be.
5. The driver TOLD LINDA that it was fine if they went over the 6 feet it was fine. In fact, he rather insisted as he wouldn't let them stack the stuff up very high or the tie down wouldn't fit over it. (seriously?! What moving company doesn't let you stack stuff to the ceiling? After all, I PAID FOR the whole 6x8x8 space. Sheesh!
6. The kicker: Linda said they were over the line by no more than THREE INCHES. 

Seriously? You screw around with my transport date multiple times, you don't bring the necessary, guaranteed, CONTRACTED supplies and now you're trying to charge me for an extra 3 inches? Ohhhh I so don't think so!

On a better note, please pray! I'm seeking pre-approval for a mortgage! I found a great condo right up the hill from work that's a ridiculously good deal and has such potential!